1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device, particularly to an device comprising an intermediate transfer member to which a toner image formed on an image bearing member is transferred.
2. Background Information
Amongst image forming devices capable of simultaneously performing a plurality of images, such as a copying machine, a printer, and the like, an image forming device has been proposed in which a plurality of toner images having a desired image size are transferred to the intermediate transfer belt, and if the device runs out of paper while the plurality of toner images on the intermediate transfer belt are transferred to recording media, the transfer process will be interrupted, and the image forming process will be performed again after the image surface of the intermediate transfer belt is cleaned. See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-311921.
However, in the above-described conventional image forming device, when cleaning the image surface of the intermediate transfer belt to which the images have been transferred, images which have not yet been transferred to recording media will also be removed from the intermediate transfer belt, resulting in wasteful toner consumption. Additionally, since the toner images which have been removed once must be formed again, this will reduce printing speed.
In view of the above-described disadvantage of the conventional technique, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming device in which if a plurality of toner images are identical, and a previous toner image on the intermediate transfer member is out of sync with respect to sheet transfer, the toner images subsequent thereto will be transferred to recording media, thus reducing wasteful toner consumption and preventing a reduction in printing speed.